Claiming passivity while financing fossil fuel expansion puts its customers’ futures at risk
February 27, 2026
Contact: Eve Gutman, Communications and Research Manager, Earth Quaker Action Team, eve@eqat.org, 973-747-5644
In response to Thursday’s settlement in the case between Vanguard and a group of Republican state attorneys general, Earth Quaker Action Team has released the following statement:
“No matter where we’re from, what we look like, or how we pray, we all want to build a life in a safe climate and trust that we will be able to support our loved ones. But, a small group of state attorneys general are playing with our futures by attacking investors doing any crumb of sustainable investing, just to score political points in their next elections. And the recent settlement in their lawsuit against Vanguard is just one in a series of examples of how Vanguard is succumbing to their political ploys.
However, no matter what some politicians say, they cannot change the reality that climate change is a profound and systemic economic risk. And by funneling billions of dollars into fossil fuel expansion projects, Vanguard is directly threatening its customers’ savings – not to mention all of our wellbeing. As concerned citizens inspired by our Quaker values, we cannot accept this blatant throwing away of our futures.
Vanguard’s claims that what matters most is “giving our investors the best chance for investment success” will ring hollow until it actually invests for a stable and prosperous future. As a start, Vanguard should offer a fossil fuel-free target date fund, give its sustainable investment products more competitive and accessible expense ratios, and meet with representatives of the Vanguard S.O.S. campaign. CEO Salim Ramji, CIO Greg Davis, and other corporate leaders have the responsibility to rise to the moment and steer the asset manager towards investing for a safe and healthy future.
For all Vanguard customers, Thursday’s settlement underscores Vanguard’s huge chasm between what it says about investing for their best interests and what it actually does. More and more customers are seeing that Vanguard is on a reckless course and moving their money out of the asset manager. Former customers concerned about Vanguard’s inaction on climate change have moved more than $57 million out of the asset manager and that number will keep growing. Customers can join money moving efforts at eqat.org/never-vanguard.
We will continue to push back with spirit-led direct action and highlight how Vanguard needs to change, alongside partners including American Friends Service Committee and Stop the Money Pipeline, among others.”
Nancy Treviño, Investors Campaign Manager at Stop the Money Pipeline, adds “In a moment when we need the largest investors and funders of fossil fuels to take climate action, this news shows us once again how Vanguard will cave to political pressure. Vanguard could choose to be a leader in providing their customers with more sustainable investment options, but instead chooses to settle politically motivated lawsuits that seek to protect fossil fuel interests over our planet’s wellbeing.”
For more of the economic argument for why investors must treat fossil-fueled climate change as an economy-wide threat, see The Long Term Will Be Decided Now, published by the Sierra Club.
EQAT was founded in 2010 by Delaware Valley Quakers who felt a moral imperative to address the climate crisis through nonviolent direct action, including tactics like civil disobedience. It now includes people of diverse beliefs, united in a commitment to creating a just and sustainable economy for all. For over four years, EQAT has been an active member of the international Vanguard S.O.S. campaign, calling on the world’s largest investor in fossil fuels to invest sustainably.
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